Summer fruit scrumping

I’ve just come in from the gardens for lunch and have picked a punnet of mixed summer berries from Claire’s fruit circle, which I’ll turn into a delicious pie this evening, if they can survive the afternoon without being eaten! Today is our team day and we’ve been harvesting all the soft fruits for the restaurant to make yummy deserts with. I’ve discovered this month that “scrumping as you go” is a fantastic incentive when doing laborious tasks such as weeding, and have had to actively restrain myself from grazing the alpine strawberries in the Cook’s Garden beds when I’ve been in there.

I’m really enjoying giving mini-makeovers to some of the gardens at the moment, regrouping plants and weeding. Last week I wood chipped the paths in the Compost Display Garden, and this week I’ve been planting up parts of the restaurant borders with Lychnis, Achiliea, Penstemon, and Heuchera. Although I think I let my girliness get the better of me as all of those have pink flowers. I’ve also planted out the alpine bed with Primula auricula, which Matt had going spare in the Vegetable Kingdom glasshouse, so I’ll be interested to see how they survive over winter.

We’ve recently begun choosing our modules for the diploma in Work-Based Horticulture, and there have already been a few modules which have caught my eye and am really looking forward to learning. We’ll be getting the chance to study plant nomenclature, terminology and identification, so I’m hoping my botanical work will come in very handy with this. We’ll also be learning about propagation methods, and also the identification and control of different pests and diseases, which should be very useful to me in the future.

First month in the gardens

My first month working in the gardens at Garden Organic has been a dream come true. Not only have I had chance to work with wonderful gardeners, but I’ve also been blessed with gorgeous weather! Weeding becomes a pleasure on a warm summers day here and I’m happily reminded by passing visitors that I have the best job in the world.
My three gardens are at their peak at the moment. The Judas Tree in the Cook’s Garden was at its best a couple of weeks ago, with a beautiful pink bloom that encourages you to walk the winding path under it. We’ve finished planting out the crop rotation for this year’s vegetables, and already have others on the cards for succession sowing later on in the year. Succession sowing is when you sow seeds of fast growing vegetables at regular intervals, so there is always something ready to replace what has been harvested throughout the year.
When I arrived one of my first tasks was to sow eight different green manures in the Compost Display garden, as a comparison for visitors to see. This was great practice for sowing in drills (making a ‘V’ shape groove in the soil with a hoe, then sowing seed and covering using a rake) and broadcasting (scattering seed evenly on the soil, then raking over). I’ve been following plans for several beds to demonstrate different types of mulches, such as leafmould, compost and even grass, to cover your soil, and planting out different crops on each.
My third garden is the Restaurant Borders, which is predominantly ornamental, filled with Alchemilla mollis, and irises.
I’m having so much fun working with Matt and Claire, my fellow Seeds of Change Apprentices, and looking forward to an exciting year ahead!